Chapter 14

"Colonel!" Bud called out about twenty minutes after the TV report.

"Yes, Bud?" she asked, hurrying to his side just as Clayton Webb entered the bullpen.

"Look at this! The Ramsly's have a cabin upstate! Do you think Mrs. Ramsly might have gone there?"

"Wow! Great work on finding that, Bud, but I doubt she would go there. It would be way too obvious." Mac hated to disappoint him.

It was at this point Webb spoke for the first time since arriving, "I've been to that cabin of theirs a few times, and it is very secluded. Normally, I would think you are right, Colonel; if Sybil was in her right mind, she would never go someplace so obvious."

"Right mind?" Mac interrupted.

"Yes, I spoke to her husband just before I came over here. Sybil has been on a few 'rest retreats' at a sanitarium. This was a cover for three nervous breakdowns she has had. The first was when Jeremy chose the Navy over a law and political career like his father's, the second was when her son married Andrea and they disowned him, and the third was when he died." Webb paused to look at Mac and Bud, before delivering the last and most damning bit of news. "Sybil was just released from her last sanitarium visit two weeks ago!"

"So, with that to consider maybe she was not thinking clearly and might very well have gone to the cabin?" Mac questioned.

"Hard to say, but I think it might be worth checking out. Since I have been there, that should save time on finding the place."

"Great!" Mac said. "Let's go, I'll drive."

"You had better let me drive. Your 'Vette is not suited to those roads." When Mac agreed, they both left the building at a near run.

Monday, 15 May 2002

1645 EST

Ramsly's Cabin

Upstate Virginia

Meanwhile, a car was pulling up at the Ramsly's cabin. Martin Faulk got out of his car and cautiously approached the door after making sure his insurance policy was safely tucked in his pocket. As he got up to the door, he could hear a baby crying. Knocking, he was soon confronted with a harried looking Rich-bitch Ramsly.

"You! What do you want?" she demanded over the baby's screams.

"Well, I am sure that you have not heard yet, but there are a great deal of people looking for you right now," he smirked.

"What in the world for?"

"Oh, I don't know all of the charges they are planning, but kidnapping probably tops the list."

"I am sure that has nothing to do with me. Now again, what are you doing here?"

"I was getting to that. Even if you to not think that there are not warrants out for your arrest, I can assure you, there are. And, I would think that it would be worth a great deal for you not to be found."

"You must be delusional! I paid you good money already and gave you the female brat to boot!" Sybil snarled.

"Maybe you just need some more persuasion, Mrs. Ramsly!" Faulk said, pulling out the gun from his pocket. "Why don't we go inside, sit down and talk about this?"

Sybil backed up at the sight of the gun and that allowed him to move passed her into the cabin. Once inside he said, "What have you been doing to that kid to make him cry like that?"

"Oh he is just being a very bad little boy and not eating for his mommy." She walked over to the couch where the baby laid and lifted him up. "He is just being fussy, aren't you, my angel?" she cooed to the still screaming baby.

Even above the baby's cries, Faulk heard another car pull up in front of the cabin.

It was Mac and Webb. They saw a car out front and thought it belonged to Mrs. Ramsly. Getting out of Webb's car, they started towards the cabin when they heard a male voice call out, "Stop! Don't come any closer or I'll shoot!"

Mac and Webb ducked back behind his car and Webb reached down to pull out a small gun he had strapped to his ankle. "I'm going to sneak around back, can you keep his attention, Mac?"

"No problem. Be careful, Webb," she replied.

"You too!" he said as he moved away from her.

Mac poked her head up just enough to be seen by who ever was in the cabin and called out, "We just want to talk to Mrs. Ramsly. Is she there with you?"

Her only answer was a gunshot above her head, causing her to once again dive behind the car. To her surprise, she heard the cry of a baby from the car. It seemed the gunshot had woken up the baby.

Crawling over to the far side of the other car, Mac peeked her head up just enough to look into the back seat. There, strapped into a car seat was the smallest baby she had ever seen.

Webb heard the shot as he snuck around the back of the cabin, and sent up a quick prayer that Mac was ok. He couldn't go back and check on her if he were to keep the element of surprise he needed. Just as he came around the back corner of the cabin, he saw a car pulling away. Cursing himself for not being quicker, he was startled by a second gunshot coming from the cabin.

What he didn't know was that while Faulk had been distracted with their arrival, Sybil had gathered up the boy baby and made a run for the car she had parked behind the cabin.

Sneaking through the back door Webb had his gun at the ready. Seeing the man, who still had his back to him, shooting towards the cars, he called out, "Drop it, or I will shoot."

Faulk spun around and took a wild shot at Webb. Taking quick but careful aim, Webb shot the gun out of Faulk's hand. Faulk whimpered and fell to the ground, holding his injured hand to his chest.

Webb kicked Faulk's gun away and called out to Mac that it was clear to come in. He was shocked down to his socks when she came in carrying a tiny baby in her arms.

"What the hell?" Webb exclaimed.

"It was in the car out front and woke up crying at the shots," Mac informed him.

"I saw a car pulling away as I came around back, and thought they had gotten away until I heard the second shot. It must have been Sybil in the car." Webb turned his glare to the man sitting on the floor that he still had his gun trained on.

"Talk!" he growled at him.

"It was all Mrs. Rich-bitch Ramsly's idea! She paid me to take the babies from this woman. The boy was the only baby that she wanted; she was acting like he was her kid when I got here. She gave me the girl you got there to sell. I had to bring her with me 'cause the guy that is buying her is gonna get her tomorrow."

"So this is Kara's baby!" Mac exclaimed. "We need to get her to the hospital to be checked out and reunite them as quick as possible."

"We need to call the local police and have them pick up this trash first," Webb told her, pulling out his cell phone. He gave them directions to the cabin and told them the story of what this guy had done. He also told them to put out an APB on the car he saw Sybil drive away in. "We can either wait for the police to arrive, or tie this scum up for them."

"I vote we tie him up and get going," Mac told him.

"Can you manage the baby and a gun while I tie him?"

"I am a Marine; we can handle anything!" she told him, waving her hand for the gun.

Webb made quick work of tying up Faulk, and he and Mac headed to the cars.

"Webb, get the car seat out of his car and put it in yours. Much as I would love to hold this tiny bundle, she will be safer in the car seat."

"And it's the law," he smirked at her.

"That too!" she grinned.

After the meeting in the lounge, AJ went back to Kara's room. He pulled up a chair close to her side and took her hand in his. A few minutes later, Dr. Wood came in to check on Kara.

"I have to get back to Bethesda now, AJ, but I'll be arranging to have Kara moved to there as soon as possible, probably later tonight," George said.

"Woodie, Kara told me she had been seeing a counselor for her nightmares she'd been having. Do you know whom she is seeing? I think she might need to talk to her."

George smiled and said, "Yes, I know her counselor very well. I sleep with her."

"What?" AJ exclaimed.

"Calm down, squid! Kara's counselor is my wife."

"Wife? George, I know Clara died fifteen or so years ago."

"Seventeen years ago now, but I remarried. Becky and I have been married three years. You'll like her; she doesn't take any guff from this old sea dog."

"Well, then, will you give her a call and have her stop by?"

"You bet, I will. See you later, AJ," his old friend said as he left the room

AJ sat on through the afternoon and into the evening, waiting in vain for Kara to wake up. He held her hand, and his thoughts went back and forth between how this was going to affect her until and after the babies were found, and what he would like to do to whoever did this to her.

About 1700 one of the nurses came and said that they needed to get Kara ready to transfer to Bethesda. The ambulance that Dr. Wood had arranged would be there shortly to move her.

Detective Tony Styler finished his shift for the day, disappointed. He had not found Kara's babies, and no new leads had turned up, either. He headed to the hospital, in any case, to see Kara. Tony was determined to get Kara back in his life. He could not imagine what she saw in that aging Admiral that had been there earlier. When he arrived at Kresge Medical Center, he was informed that she had been transferred just a few minutes before.

Kara was settled into her new room at Bethesda without even waking. AJ, who had ridden with her in the ambulance, took up his post at her side, and resumed holding her hand. The police guard that they had on her door at Kresge Medical Center was replaced with a Navy guard as soon as they arrived.

About 1800 hours, a nurse came into Kara's room and told AJ that there was a call for him at the nurse's station. There was no phone in Kara's room so as not to disturb her, and cell phones were frowned on in the hospital. He reluctantly left Kara's side to go and take the call.

While AJ was at the nurse's station on the phone, Tony arrived. He was glad to find that the Admiral was not in Kara's room when he got there; he did not see him standing at the nurse's station.

Kara was just waking as Tony entered the room. He quickly went over to her bedside and sat down.

"Kara, honey, how are you?" Tony asked taking her hand in his.

Tears rolled down her face and she could hardly speak. "I thought I was dreaming when I saw you here earlier."

"I was assigned to your case. I am a detective now. I was so surprised it was you and that you were pregnant!"

Kara sobbed all the harder at that, "I am not pregnant any more! Someone stole my babies!"

Tony moved closed to take Kara into his arms, "Honey, we are doing everything we can to find your babies, and I am sure they will be back in no time."

"I hope so, Tony. I need them."

"Honey, I know you have a lot going on right now, but I want us to try again. I still love you, that hasn't changed."

Before Kara could reply to this, the door to her room swung open and AJ stood there. He saw Tony's arms around her and the huge grin he had had on his face slowly faded.

She saw AJ over Tony's shoulder, and watched the look on his face change, "AJ?" Kara asked. She tried to back out of Tony's arms but he was not letting her go. He did look over his shoulder, though, at the older man.

Moving closer to the bed, AJ frowned at Tony, who finally let Kara slide back on to her pillows. AJ took her hand and said, "I just got a call from Colonel Mackenzie. She and Clayton Webb are on their way here with Andrea."

"Andrea? I thought you told me she was dead?" demanded Tony.

"My baby is dead?" Kara cried.

To be continued…